The U.S. education system is like dial-up in a high-speed world: inefficient. Dial-up academia is especially a problem in the subjects of science and math.

Recently the World Economics Forum placed the quality of U.S. science and math curriculum at 48 out of 133 other nations. The National Science Foundation also reported that ethnic minorities are even less likely to pursue an undergraduate degree in science and engineering.

The U.S. is falling behind in this globally competitive economy.

But Iridescent Learning, a nonprofit science education organization, is trying to change that. The interactive STEM-based program teaches students, and their parents, about technology and engineering. Most important, however, is that students can actually apply what they learn by inventing things.

With a location already in Los Angeles, Tara Chklovski, President and CEO of Iridescent Learning Chklovski chose the South Bronx for her second science studio location. The studio, located on the first floor of the Banknote Building, will be opening its doors to students in early 2011.

Chklovski has partnered with the U.S Office of Naval Research through a Department of Defense campaign to increase diversity in STEM. The studio will receive an estimated $2 million each year through a three-year grant from the ONR to serve about 1,500 students from over 31 schools across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.

Here is a look at the November 4th opening festival.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 12:58 am and is filed under Curation, video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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